Legacies of Confederation: A New Look at Manitoba History

Manitoba, at Canada’s 150th anniversary, looks vastly different than the fur trade outpost it was at the time of the four-province Confederation of 1867. A new exhibit at the Manitoba Museum will use its priceless collection to explore the impact of Canadian Confederation on the people and the land that would become Manitoba, the fifth province to join Canada. The effects were massive and irrevocable. Red River inhabitants resisted Canadian authority and proposed a province on their own terms. The eventual agreement with Canada included guarantees of rights for Métis children and French-speaking residents. Five main Treaties were negotiated with First Nations peoples, including guarantees of support for their education, livelihood and well-being. Within four years the population quadrupled as a huge influx of settlers from Ontario and Europe swamped the province. Prairie and wetland ecology was transformed forever, First Nations and Métis inhabitants were marginalized, and hundreds of thousands of new settlers profited from fertile farmland, railways, and an exploding urban centre – Winnipeg.

Manitoba, at Canada’s 150th anniversary, looks vastly different than the fur trade outpost it was at the time of the four-province Confederation of 1867. A new exhibit at the Manitoba Museum will use its priceless collection to explore the impact of Canadian Confederation on the people and the land that would become Manitoba, the fifth province to join Canada. The effects were massive and irrevocable. Red River inhabitants resisted Canadian authority and proposed a province on their own terms. The eventual agreement with Canada included guarantees of rights for Métis children and French-speaking residents. Five main Treaties were negotiated with First Nations peoples, including guarantees of support for their education, livelihood and well-being. Within four years the population quadrupled as a huge influx of settlers from Ontario and Europe swamped the province. Prairie and wetland ecology was transformed forever, First Nations and Métis inhabitants were marginalized, and hundreds of thousands of new settlers profited from fertile farmland, railways, and an exploding urban centre – Winnipeg.